


Laughter

by Burgie



Category: Steven Universe - Fandom
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-11
Updated: 2017-01-11
Packaged: 2018-09-16 18:46:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9285203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: After Steven awakens Lapis, she discovers a light that she'd thought was gone from the world. Takes place during Mirror Gem.





	

Lapis didn’t know how long she’d been in this prison. The gem who’d held her after finding her, blind and helpless, in a pit with the other cracked gems, had said that she was saving her. Yeah, right. Putting her in a prison hadn’t exactly felt like she’d been saved. At least she could see in here. But she couldn’t fly. She was trapped.

But then, one day, she saw light. What was happening? She hadn’t seen light for centuries. It had just been darkness for so long. She heard voices, and strained to see. That voice was familiar. She’d been the one to take light from Lapis. The one who’d put her in the dark. Though, she didn’t recognise this other voice. The Crystal Gem called her broken. Well, maybe she was. That word repeated in her mind as the two talked. Broken. Just another broken gem, a casualty of the war. Rose Quartz was said to have healing powers, she could have saved her. But the Crystal Gems only cared about their own. Thinking back on it, it had been a Crystal Gem who had poofed her in the first place. She hadn’t seen who had cracked her gem. Maybe the same gem, she had been big, after all.

Lapis seemed to vaguely recall the large gem arguing with the one who’d imprisoned her, but that memory was hazy. She’d been angry then, so angry and terrified at being imprisoned. Then, darkness had swallowed her, and she’d become dormant for a while.

“School’s out!” the other voice cried, drawing Lapis out of her memories. What was school? Whatever it was, he seemed happy about being out of it. Maybe it was some sort of prison. But now, Lapis was becoming used to the new light and she began to make out details. Buildings passing by quickly, and a distant beach, and animals and people. Strange. Maybe it was just because she was going so fast and jumping around, but Lapis couldn’t see any gems on these people. Were they humans? Had the war been won by the rebels? How could that be? Homeworld never lost. If they intended to do something, they did it.

But then, suddenly, the movement came to a stop and she heard an angry voice.

“Hey, watch where you’re going you little- Steven!” Lapis stared at the person who’d spoken. She definitely couldn’t see any gems on him. But maybe he was hiding them under his clothes? The person holding Lapis spoke, confirming his name- Steven. She’d never heard of a gem named Steven before. And why was he so excited about summer?

Now all she could see was Steven. He seemed so happy, laughing as he first walked and then began to run backwards. Lapis would have smiled if she had the lips to do so. The war must be over if this person could be so happy. Then, she saw something and warned Steven the only way she knew how. Once, she’d used this mirror to show people other places and events. Now, she tried using it to communicate. She didn’t think it would work, though. It had been so long, after all. But it did work, and she was just as surprised as Steven was. Relieved, too, that he hadn’t been hurt.

“What was that?” asked Steven. Lapis laughed in relief and amazement, using Steven’s voice to do so. It was an awkward way of communicating, but she didn’t care. She was just so happy that it had worked. And so was he, apparently, if his grin and happy voice was any indication. Well, she didn’t know what it was like being a mirror, so she just told him as much as she could.

“I work!” she tried to say, relieved to find that she wasn’t entirely broken. Then she laughed, thrilled at the idea of not being broken like the Crystal Gem had said she was.

Steven took her to the beach, where the man who’d nearly run him down was standing and giving a speech. Lapis tried to listen, but Steven clearly took no interest. He put his hand to his mouth and made a rude sound after the man said something about a warm breeze wafting through the air. Lapis was surprised at how funny she found that. The next time the man said something about the sounds of the summer season, Lapis replayed Steven’s rude noise. He grinned at her, and she laughed again. The man seemed oblivious, but a few people in the crowd were laughing. Lapis would have been rolling on the floor laughing if she had a physical form that would allow that. Her first time working in centuries, and she was making fart jokes. It was ridiculous, it was inappropriate, but it was hilarious. Lapis felt all of her worries melt away as she laughed. She wasn’t broken, she wasn’t useless, she wasn’t going to be just cast aside. She was making someone laugh, and that was better than anything else she’d ever done.

After the man and crowd had left, Steven sat on the beach with Lapis, and she continued making him laugh. They didn’t talk much, but that was okay. Lapis was still in stitches over the earlier fart jokes. Steven even gave her the opportunity to make some more, which he found just as funny as she did.

“You’re pretty funny for a mirror,” said Steven after a while. Lapis giggled and tried to tell him that he was funny, too. She blushed when she got it wrong, then used her waning power to stitch together a new message.

“You’re pretty funny for a Steven,” she told him. Not that she’d ever met a Steven before, but she was sure that he was the funniest one. He was so impressed by her stitching together a new sentence. She had to laugh at that. If only he could see her at her full strength…

Maybe someday, Lapis would be able to show this Steven what she could really do. If he was impressed by her copying him and making new things, she was sure that he’d be completely blown away by her water wings and her power over water. But for now, just making him laugh and smile so much was enough. Lapis had seen far too few smiles and heard too few laughs since her imprisonment. It was just so good to be able to laugh again. Even if it was through video replayed through a mirror.


End file.
